“That’s right. I even watched something like this with you, so you’re going to send me home alone like this?”
“It’s not something to call ‘something like this’…… Didn’t you enjoy watching it quite a bit?”
At Seongjo’s subtle demand, Yujeong immediately answered. It was still that calm, expressionless face where you couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not.
Of course, it was Seongjo himself who had said it was fine and followed along to watch the play without refusing. True to a children’s play, it was childish, but it was also true that it had been quite interesting in its own way, as if proving why it was popular among children. However, Yujeong’s words were also a somewhat shameless defense for someone who had called out a man over thirty on a weekend to show him <Detective Toltori>.
Therefore, even at Yujeong’s somewhat cold reaction, Seongjo didn’t really mind. After lightly shrugging his shoulders, he answered.
“There’s also a saying that if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. Well, it was fun because it was absurd…… Anyway, it’s true that you used me as a test experience.”
There was no denial to those words. Yujeong, who had been silently looking at Seongjo for a moment, soon turned his gaze sharply to the side. It was a rather coy-looking appearance.
“Of course I wasn’t thinking of sending Lee Seongjo-ssi home alone. Since our homes are the same.”
It might just be Seongjo’s own thought, but even in the words that followed after a moment, that coy air remained the same. Yujeong must have understood what Seongjo meant. There was no way he wouldn’t know that the words not to send him home alone weren’t simply suggesting they go home together since their homes were the same. Seongjo asked with a slightly incredulous smile.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Yes.”
However, he didn’t expect this answer to come back. What kind of joke is told with such a humorless face, and what does it mean to acknowledge it so concisely? Seongjo looked closely at Yujeong’s face with his eyes slightly narrowed. Anyway, since he acknowledged it was a joke, it must mean he was willing to go along with what Seongjo said. Before he could back out, Seongjo quickly left his review.
“Let’s say that’s what it is. Five pages is too much, so I’ll summarize it in three lines. They made the goblin mask well, it was worth watching because it was a happy ending, but it’s not for middle schoolers. You saw it too, Teacher Jeon, so I think you know there were only little kids today.”
“Little kids?”
Yujeong, who had been listening to Seongjo’s review with a rather serious face, said one thing when he finished. He couldn’t tell at what point he had a question. Did he want to say that elementary school students weren’t that young? Seongjo shrugged as if puzzled and replied.
“Hmm? Even if they’re not infants, well, anyone under ten is a little kid.”
“No, it’s not that I’m saying they’re not……”
Yujeong spoke slowly and calmly. So blandly that you couldn’t tell at all whether it was a joke or serious.
“It’s too cute a word to come out of Lee Seongjo-ssi’s mouth……”
“What is? The word ‘little kid’?”
What kind of image did Lee Seongjo have to this man? Of course, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard such an evaluation. It was because he easily gave the impression of being an inhuman person thanks to his surrounding environment, appearance, and arrogant-seeming personality. However, this was the first time someone who wasn’t afraid or intimidated by Seongjo at all had said such things to his face. Seongjo let out an empty laugh.
“This is absurd. What’s wrong with me?”
However, Yujeong only turned his head without answering. Seongjo, who grimaced as if smiling slightly, moved a bit closer to Yujeong and said.
“I can imagine what Jeon Yujeong-ssi was like as a little kid, but me? The kid was quiet and didn’t cause trouble…… but I bet you were damn stubborn.”
At the word ‘little kid’ coming out once more, Yujeong’s brow twitched slightly as he turned his head away from Seongjo.
“Not at all. I was just the type that didn’t need much attention.”
Even after hearing those words, the subtle smile on Seongjo’s face didn’t change. Not needing attention and being stubborn were completely separate things. Originally, quiet and well-behaved model students were stubbornly strong in strange places and could hardly be broken. There was a reason for the saying that silent people are scary when angry. As expected, since it was about himself, he clearly didn’t know properly.
Whether Seongjo was staring or not, Yujeong didn’t react anymore. Instead, he moved his feet first and opened his mouth.
“I heard your review well. Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
No matter how much Yujeong kept being curt, he didn’t get angry, but if something like ‘naturally home’ came out this time too, he thought he should say something then. Seongjo stopped walking firmly and crossed his arms. Then Yujeong also stopped and turned to look at Seongjo. After a short silence, he said.
“Shall we have a meal?”
Seongjo immediately answered.
“Not that. Let’s have a drink before going in.”
As if he wouldn’t let him go no matter what unless he kept him company. Of course, Yujeong didn’t flinch or get flustered at such words. However, he didn’t exactly refuse either. He looked at Seongjo, who was standing as if nailed down with his arms crossed, like looking at a disobedient child and asked.
“Are you good at drinking?”
Seongjo replied with a grin like someone who won a game.
“Of course, that goes without saying.”
It wasn’t a lie. Lee Seongjo was originally someone who neither put on pointless airs nor had any reason to. There was no point in inflating his drinking capacity. However, strangely, Yujeong seemed utterly unconvinced by Seongjo’s words. You could tell by how he answered with a subtle expression, “Yes…… I see,” to the statement that he was confident in his drinking capacity.
He knew you couldn’t judge drinking capacity just by appearance. However, there existed such things as an image that looked like you could drink well and an image that didn’t. And Seongjo had a face that had never once been told he looked like he couldn’t drink. In reality, he almost never collapsed before others at drinking gatherings either.
When he questioned whether Yujeong didn’t believe him after seeing his subtle expression, he naturally changed the subject.
“If you say so, then I suppose it is. Lee Seongjo-ssi can choose where to go.”
At first hearing, it seemed like consideration telling him to do as he pleased. However, somehow it also sounded like ‘Since you’re the one who suggested it, you figure it out.’ Either way, he didn’t mind.
The place Seongjo chose was a pojangmacha not too far away. If it were a date, it would have been better to choose a much more proper drinking place, but even if he took him to a decent hotel bar or such, Yujeong would probably be even more averse to it.
Whether it should be called as expected, Yujeong obediently followed Seongjo’s choice, but even after entering the pojangmacha, he kept staring intently at Seongjo’s face. It wasn’t a particularly dissatisfied or question-filled face. Yet somehow his gaze made him feel an inexplicable pressure.
Following Yujeong’s opinion of ‘anything,’ Seongjo ordered drinks and snacks on his own and, unable to bear that gaze, opened his mouth.
“Why are you looking at me like that? What are you going to say is strange this time?”
Was it unexpected that he chose a pojangmacha? He was used to hearing things like a chaebol wouldn’t know how to take the subway or would only drink in proper places. It wasn’t particularly that he was trying to appeal to his humanity. He looked at Yujeong while only inwardly making joking remarks. This time too, he only said “That’s not it” and gave no other answer.
Unlike what others thought, Seongjo was familiar with places like this. He had no desire to live like chaebols in the media, and even less desire to act like the fellow chaebol heirs of his age that he actually met often. That’s why Seongjo hadn’t gone abroad to study either, and had often shown his face at university events and such. Moreover, during the time he met with Yeongbeom, there were fewer places they hadn’t been to……
……Fortunately, the uncomfortable thoughts didn’t continue long. It was thanks to the menu he ordered coming out quickly. Yujeong, who had been looking at the fish cake soup and soju that Seongjo ordered with unfamiliar eyes, asked.
“Do you like alcohol?”
When he raised his head to look at his face, an aversion was clearly rising. He said he was a non-smoker, and he disliked alcohol too? He was a model citizen through and through.
‘I wonder if he doesn’t go to sleep at 9 o’clock.’
Seongjo, who had thoughts that would make Yujeong frown if he heard them, answered nonchalantly.
“In my own way. I heard Teacher Jeon doesn’t smoke, so I guess you’re not fond of alcohol either.”
“To be honest, yes. I’ve never felt good from drinking it.”
Seongjo skillfully opened the soju bottle cap and filled his own glass. He wasn’t shameless enough to hint for Yujeong, who didn’t seem to enjoy alcohol at all, to pour for him.
“They say people who like alcohol generally like the drinking atmosphere itself, not the alcohol.”
As he answered like that, Yujeong asked with an unknowable face while watching Seongjo pour soju for himself.
“Is Lee Seongjo-ssi like that too?”
“It’s good for having deep conversations.”
Saying that, Seongjo tilted the bottle toward Yujeong’s glass. Although he said he disliked alcohol, Yujeong naturally lifted his glass and received the drink. In a manner perfectly conforming to drinking etiquette. Since it was for the sake of appearances, he added.
“You don’t need to drink it. But you do have to answer.”
Pojangmacha (포장마차) – Korean street food tent/cart
